Over Training for 35 and Older

After reading various boards, I keep seeing people advocate taking 5 days to 1 week off after about 6 months of training. What opinion do you guys have on this???

I am 36 years old and have noticed that my recovery time is not what it used to be. I could go 1yr without taking any time off before. Now I just started working out 3 - 4 months ago and feel like I need about two weeks off!!!!

After reading various boards, I keep seeing people advocate taking 5 days to 1 week off after about 6 months of training. What opinion do you guys have on this???

I am 36 years old and have noticed that my recovery time is not what it used to be. I could go 1yr without taking any time off before. Now I just started working out 3 - 4 months ago and feel like I need about two weeks off!!!!

Old age sucks

I find that I need about a week off every 3 months. Unfortunately it then takes about 2 weeks to get back to my former condition. Longer breaks take a comparable 2 to 1 recovery period. What I do to improve my recovery ability is take a cocktail of CEE/L-Arginine/Beta-Alanine. I find I come back as quickly as I want and have to force myself to wait beteween sets.

hey guys just thought i'd chime in here. im turning 39 in jan. i try not to take a week off unless i really feel the need. i used to do that but like dutchman said, you have to ease back into things. i find it much better to just listen to your body. i normally workout 3 X week sometimes ill throw in an arm day so i can flex for the wife and kid. if i feel too tired from work or whatever ill skip that day and go for broke the next day. stick to basic moves and eat properly. if you feel overtrained or want to workout but not your usual routine pick a new exercise and practice it. i like to do grip feats of strength when im out of it or tired.

Only time I used to take off training was when I got sick.Then I had no choice but to take a break.
But as you get older and wiser as Saty said you need to listen to
what your body is telling you.If your feeling tired take a break.
Sometimes you can get away with just changing your routine.
But if your training really hard out , busting your a*se all the time then your body will welcome a week off.

After reading various boards, I keep seeing people advocate taking 5 days to 1 week off after about 6 months of training. What opinion do you guys have on this???

I am 36 years old and have noticed that my recovery time is not what it used to be. I could go 1yr without taking any time off before. Now I just started working out 3 - 4 months ago and feel like I need about two weeks off!!!!

Old age sucks

I am 37 years old and have had similar concerns, i find training 3 times a week Mon Wed Fri, seems to suit me and take a week off every 12 weeks, I use stretching of the muscles during the week off and plenty of sleep and this seems to do the trick. I seem to be bigger and stronger when i return to training!!

I have a pretty strong opinion on this one. I say if you don't need a rest after 12 weeks then you aren't training hard enough. Remember our sport is about intensity. I find it depends on what type of routines you do. Sometimes I need a week off after 8 weeks.

A couple tricks I use now that help me with age is, a) I rarely go to failure, this way I prevent injuries and I don't notice any difference in results. (they may even be better) b) I don't have hardly any routines that last an hour, but my time in the gym can be unbelievably grueling as I really do go to war. I find that reducing sets and increasing intensity I really get a good bang for my buck. c) I only do a body part once a week, less is more sometimes.

Rest is just as important as work for gains, well placed time off can only improve your performance over the long haul.

LG Sciences sponsored athlete
Use "walker35" for 35% off at www.lgsciences.com

I agree with DreamWeaver 100%. I hit one muscle group per day and rest it for a week. It gives you great focus on that muscle and then good recoop time. I stay sore for a few days but by the following week its ready to go again.

I think the important thing here is to just listen to your body. If you have been stressing your body out it is just telling you it needs more time to recover. We are all differant in that aspect. I will be 35 this year and I can still train like a champ. However some of my close freinds who are just as old cannot.

What kind of training are you doing as far as days on and days off. What are you doing for reps and sets. Are you trying to get lean or get big. There are allot of factors involved. Are you taking anything to help with recovery or for supplemants

I'l be 40 in a few months. The biggest thing I've noticed is that I need a good 7-8 hours of sleep a night to "stay fresh" along with good nutrition.
I didn't really notice a change until about 2 years ago. Up until then, I could train like I did in my 20's.
Heck, I'm in the process of getting in super military shape again to go to OCS this summer with the guys in their 20's. When I went for my weigh in last month, I was told I was "pretty brave".

I guess I'm part of the upper echelon being 48. Like you all I work out 5 days a week (3 weights, 2 cardio). I have found that at this age if I take off a week about every eight to ten weeks, I seem to come back either where I left off or stronger. When I was younger, it would make me fall back but not now. Anyway I enjoy this forum and guess I'll be hanging out here more. Was hanging over at EF site, but they don't seem to cater to as elders.

I've just hit 38, and I've found that HST training has given me great results, enjoyable training, and minimal recovery.

Im not 35, im only 34, but i am in the best shape of my life, physically and mentally. I switched to a fullbody routine in august, and it is the best thing IMO I have ever done. It is first of all FUN, pretty fast, exciting, keeps me interested , and challenging at the same time. Nothing but core for the most part. Here u go...

I just turned 40 in MArch. I have been out of the gym for 6 years due to an injury and after 2 months back I have really bounced back fast. I train Mon, Tue - Thur, Fri. I will do some cardio and abs on Wed sometimes. I haven't felt like wanting a break yet so we'll see how it goes. I LOVE the gym!!!!

I have a pretty strong opinion on this one. I say if you don't need a rest after 12 weeks then you aren't training hard enough. Remember our sport is about intensity. I find it depends on what type of routines you do. Sometimes I need a week off after 8 weeks.

A couple tricks I use now that help me with age is, a) I rarely go to failure, this way I prevent injuries and I don't notice any difference in results. (they may even be better) b) I don't have hardly any routines that last an hour, but my time in the gym can be unbelievably grueling as I really do go to war. I find that reducing sets and increasing intensity I really get a good bang for my buck. c) I only do a body part once a week, less is more sometimes.

Rest is just as important as work for gains, well placed time off can only improve your performance over the long haul.

Great post DW (as usual). Maybe you've posted it somewhere before but how do you usually split up your workouts?

I'm 36 and will be 37 in a couple of months. I didn't lift when I was young so I don't have a reference to compare against. However I do like to take a break from time to time, sometimes not a full week.

After reading various boards, I keep seeing people advocate taking 5 days to 1 week off after about 6 months of training. What opinion do you guys have on this???

I am 36 years old and have noticed that my recovery time is not what it used to be. I could go 1yr without taking any time off before. Now I just started working out 3 - 4 months ago and feel like I need about two weeks off!!!!

Old age sucks

IMO and experience, recovery is more dependent on intensity rather than age. I assume that at 30-50 years of age or more youíve progressed closer to your genetic potential than you did at 20. Also, you may have more distractions at 40 with a full time job with kids to raise than you did at 20.

For example: at 46 I hurt myself enough to pretty much have to start over. In the beginning I could spend 2 hours in PT for my legs and then train my upper body for another 2 hours three times a week, IOW I could train pretty much like a 20 yr old. I was on disability so I didn't have to worry about working for 8-10 hrs. As I regained my upper body, and eventually my lower body, I needed to become more selective in my work outs and I donít consider myself particularly genetically gifted. I do fewer sets than I used to, but much of what I used to do would now be considered overtraining anyway.

I'm 36 and will be 37 in a couple of months. I didn't lift when I was young so I don't have a reference to compare against. However I do like to take a break from time to time, sometimes not a full week.

After reading various boards, I keep seeing people advocate taking 5 days to 1 week off after about 6 months of training. What opinion do you guys have on this???

I am 36 years old and have noticed that my recovery time is not what it used to be. I could go 1yr without taking any time off before. Now I just started working out 3 - 4 months ago and feel like I need about two weeks off!!!!

Old age sucks

I dont take more than 1 week off anymore........Seems like i loose too much........SAD!

Im not 35, im only 34, but i am in the best shape of my life, physically and mentally. I switched to a fullbody routine in august, and it is the best thing IMO I have ever done. It is first of all FUN, pretty fast, exciting, keeps me interested , and challenging at the same time. Nothing but core for the most part. Here u go...

For instance, I do 3 sets of incline db press @ 8 reps. Im done till wednesday. Then I do the same wed, and fri. The next week, i would probably do weighted dips that week, and then alternate.

I am 36 and made the same change this year to full body 3x a week. I started with 8 weeks of 5x5 and now I am starting 8 weeks of a modified GVT (10x10 & 6X10) to keep things from getting stagnant and try to achieve both strength and growth phases.
Rather than taking a full week of I do an active recovery week at reduced weights and reps. Just something to keep me active and keep the blood flowing. While I dont make any gains that week I also havent lost pace with where I was at and it gives me a chance to refresh mentally.

I am 36 and made the same change this year to full body 3x a week. I started with 8 weeks of 5x5 and now I am starting 8 weeks of a modified GVT (10x10 & 6X10) to keep things from getting stagnant and try to achieve both strength and growth phases.
Rather than taking a full week of I do an active recovery week at reduced weights and reps. Just something to keep me active and keep the blood flowing. While I dont make any gains that week I also havent lost pace with where I was at and it gives me a chance to refresh mentally.

Yea, ive been doing my fullbody for quite some time now. I am thinking about switching to something else to keep me fresh. I have looked at various fullbody / upper,lower splits, etc , but i just havent decided on anything yet. Still searching

Yea, ive been doing my fullbody for quite some time now. I am thinking about switching to something else to keep me fresh. I have looked at various fullbody / upper,lower splits, etc , but i just havent decided on anything yet. Still searching

Each workout I try to increase the weight by 5 pounds but only after getting all reps. I make three attempts to get the reps and if I am not succesful I decrease the weight by 10% and work back up.
This is a routine developed at the Eclipse Gym. I have just started on this phase so I dont have any valid comments on it at this point. I am going to run it and see how it goes. Plan is to run it for 6 weeks, take an active recovery week and then start another 5x5 phase, rinse and repeat.

You can once in a while do 2 days a week but you need to do compound exercises. I have a couple routines that can be converted this way.

Just remember everything works just not for very long. You should be doing a wide variety of different routines for varying purposes. I switch every 4 weeks not only the exercises but the basic phylosophy of each routine. That way I don't lift too much heavy, I get my higher rep work in, I can mix and match between power, intensity and volume. I judge what is most appropriate for the time. I am not always right sometimes I lift too much power. Periodization is very important and the other is progression, plan on how your going to increase your lifts during the cylce. I am lucky my partner had 30 years of really good experience (he is world class came 2nd) and I have just added my 20 years onto that making adjustments based on what I experience. Know thyself.

LG Sciences sponsored athlete
Use "walker35" for 35% off at www.lgsciences.com

You can once in a while do 2 days a week but you need to do compound exercises. I have a couple routines that can be converted this way.

Just remember everything works just not for very long. You should be doing a wide variety of different routines for varying purposes. I switch every 4 weeks not only the exercises but the basic phylosophy of each routine.

I have read that variations of your routine to keep results coming can be done by changing the order the exercises are performed in the routine and by changing the reps. It suggested the changing the exercises was not always neccessary. I have a lot of interest in this since I focus on maily compound lifts. When you arent doing isolation the variety is a little more limited. With your experience would you agree or disagree with this?

I would disagree. I think the more you can change the better and the more you have to work from. I guess there is some degree of truth to that way of thinking but you'd do much better having a much better arsenal to draw from.

Compound lifting is the superior way to add mass and strength nobody is disputing that. I think you can use isolation lifts in a manner where you can almost equal the intensity of compound lifts though. Super sets and drop sets used in conjunction can be very effective. Isolated movements are also a lot easier on the joints and will allow you to rest up the joints in between heavy cycles.

And what about combining different types of lifts, I know this can be very effective as well. The more you can change the better is the bottom line. Your nervous system will adjust to certain movements becoming more effecient but this takes away a lot of the load on the muscles.

LG Sciences sponsored athlete
Use "walker35" for 35% off at www.lgsciences.com

I would disagree. I think the more you can change the better and the more you have to work from. I guess there is some degree of truth to that way of thinking but you'd do much better having a much better arsenal to draw from.

Compound lifting is the superior way to add mass and strength nobody is disputing that. I think you can use isolation lifts in a manner where you can almost equal the intensity of compound lifts though. Super sets and drop sets used in conjunction can be very effective. Isolated movements are also a lot easier on the joints and will allow you to rest up the joints in between heavy cycles.

And what about combining different types of lifts, I know this can be very effective as well. The more you can change the better is the bottom line. Your nervous system will adjust to certain movements becoming more effecient but this takes away a lot of the load on the muscles.